Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century EnglandWitchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief. |
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... Reformation 4 Providence 5 Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People MAGIC 7 Magical Healing 8 Cunning Men and Popular Magic 9 Magic and Religion ASTROLOGY 10 Astrology: its Practice and Extent 11 Astrology: its Social and ...
... Reformation 4 Providence 5 Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People MAGIC 7 Magical Healing 8 Cunning Men and Popular Magic 9 Magic and Religion ASTROLOGY 10 Astrology: its Practice and Extent 11 Astrology: its Social and ...
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... Reformation and the dawn of the Enlightenment. This is why the book begins with the collapse of the medieval Church in the early sixteenth century and ends with the change in the intellectual atmosphere which is so striking in the years ...
... Reformation and the dawn of the Enlightenment. This is why the book begins with the collapse of the medieval Church in the early sixteenth century and ends with the change in the intellectual atmosphere which is so striking in the years ...
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... Reformation of Manners, by battling against popular pastimes, 'superfluous' alehouses and lower-class tippling. What they were combating was the fatalistic hopelessness of those who saw no alternative but to drown their sorrows. The ...
... Reformation of Manners, by battling against popular pastimes, 'superfluous' alehouses and lower-class tippling. What they were combating was the fatalistic hopelessness of those who saw no alternative but to drown their sorrows. The ...
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... Reformation.2 On the eve of the Reformation the Church did not as an institution claim the power to work miracles. But it reaped prestige from the doings of those of its members to whom God was deemed to have extended miraculous gifts ...
... Reformation.2 On the eve of the Reformation the Church did not as an institution claim the power to work miracles. But it reaped prestige from the doings of those of its members to whom God was deemed to have extended miraculous gifts ...
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... Reformation, but his words reveal the depth of the social roots of this form of popular devotion. The patronage of the saints give a sense of identity and of corporate existence to small and otherwise undifferentiated institutions ...
... Reformation, but his words reveal the depth of the social roots of this form of popular devotion. The patronage of the saints give a sense of identity and of corporate existence to small and otherwise undifferentiated institutions ...
Contents
Ghosts and Fairies | |
Times and Omens | |
Cunning Men and Popular Magic | |
Magic and Religion | |
its Practice and Extent | |
its Social and Intellectual Role | |
Astrology and Religion | |
THE APPEAL TO THE PAST 13 Ancient Prophecies WITCHCRAFT | |
the Crime and its History | |
Witchcraft and Religion | |
The Decline of Magic | |
Index | |
Providence | |
Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People | |
Magical Healing | |
The Making of a Witch | |
Witchcraft and its Social Environment | |
Decline | |
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Common terms and phrases
2nd edn accused almanac Archaeol Ashm Ashmole astrological Aubrey Autobiography belief Bishop Bodl Book Cambridge Catholic chap charms Christian Church clergy clients confessed conjuration contemporary courts cunning cunning folk cure curse death declared Devil Diary Discourse Discoverie disease divine doctrine early ecclesiastical Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Essex evil Ewen example fairies faith G. G. Coulton Gadbury Gentilisme ghosts God's healing Henry Hist History holy Hugh Latimer intellectual John John Aubrey John Dee John Gadbury John Jewel Josten Journ judicial astrology King Kittredge Lilly Lilly's Lollards London magic medicine medieval misfortune natural Oxford Parish persons Physicians plague popular practice prayer predictions prognostication prophecies prophetic prosecution Protestant Puritan Records Reformation Reginald Scot reign religion religious Richard ritual Robert Royal scepticism Science Scot Sermons sixteenth century Sloane social society sorcery spirits supernatural Superstitions Thomas thought trans Treatise Tudor William William Lilly William Perkins witch-beliefs witchcraft witches wizard woman